During #AskACurator 2018 I tried to capture some of the different conversations. This is more for me than for anyone to think this is an overall statement of the day (because I am not the one that can or will ever capture everything!)

Highlights:

Museums talking to each – Australia and New Zealand really set the tone for 2018 as there weren’t a lot of questions at first so they took the bull by the horns and starting asking questions amongst themselves – then the public got involved and next thing you know it’s trending 2nd in all of Australia.

By the time I jumped back Russia and Europe were in full swing (not so much UK at that point) and the tone remain positive, light, inquisitive, fun, interesting and most importantly educational.

Questions:

I usually try to ask a few general questions to get things going. This year they were mostly ignored which to me is AMAZING because that meant there were so many other questions being asked mine weren’t needed!

https://twitter.com/MarDixon/status/1039646722090303488

What do you Wear?

#askacurator So what DO curators wear? Practical sensible clothes. Shoes that are able to be worn in the city and through paddocks. And no cloth gloves; nitrile works best in our sweaty climate. Here’s Dr Scott Hill dressed for work, conserving metalwork at Rouse Hill House. pic.twitter.com/y4dzNWHrKN

Which also brought up many questions around what people are doing in regards to the Brazil fire:

#AskACurator What can museum patrons do to ensure the safety and protection of the precious objects housed in museums? Especially to prevent another tragedy like the museum fire in Brazil last week. @AskACurator

AskACurator is for everyone and it was lovely to see that schools got involved again. This year a Kindergarten class really got involved:

https://twitter.com/amhistorymuseum/status/1039916459894419459

There were several Moments on Twitter (I can’t embed as it grabs whole story)

Museum curators reveal what items they’ve used to impress their dates #AskACurator @nightlightguy asked if curators ever bring museum items on a date as a way to break the ice with a potential match. It happens more than you may have guessed. https://twitter.com/i/events/1039896117595398144

Edit to add tweet from their stats:

Some stats: the AMA was viewed over 250,000 times and had over 450 comments in just 24 hours. Our thread had over 3,600 upvotes and a 92% approval rating – enough for us to feature on Reddit’s homepage!

Being more Inclusive

And finally, it wouldn’t be a hashtag day without some controversy which for the most part I ignored but did feel the need to at least address the issue of using the word curator and not museum worker or other general terms. I tried to explain as it does tend to come up every year (by museum workers, not the public …)

https://twitter.com/MarDixon/status/1039775657570385923

I did love this:

Translation:

The staff of a museum is a bit like a Swiss army knife or a bunch of keys. It brings together many experienced professionals to find solutions and launch new projects. Thank you for participating in

CultureThemes

CultureThemes.com
CultureThemes runs a hashtag on social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) once a month to promote and engage with museums and visitors.

MuseumCamp

MuseumCamp
An unconference for people interested, working, want to work or who like to visit museums, art galleries and cultural venues. It’s a cakefest.

MuseumNext

MuseumNext 2018
MuseumNext is a global conference on the future of museums. Since 2009 it has acted as a platform for showcasing best practice today to shine a light on the museum of tomorrow. Our Museum Conferences have acted as a catalyst for change within the museum